About the Mansions on Fifth

Along a busy road in a Pittsburgh neighborhood are stunning remnants of the city’s gilded age. In this stretch of Fifth Avenue, known as “Millionaires Row,” lie two homes that once housed the family of Willis F. McCook. An industrialist and one of the nation’s first corporate lawyers, McCook was Henry Clay Frick’s attorney, representing him in Frick’s celebrated fight with Andrew Carnegie. After the McCook family, the Mansions were home to the Bonavita family who, shortly after moving into the mansion, began renting rooms on the second and third floors to carefully screened university students from Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and Chatham. For more than 50 years, hundreds of students came to call the McCook Mansion home.

In 2004, a fire broke out on the third floor of the McCook Mansion, causing substantial damage to the third floor and the roof, rendering the building uninhabitable. It sat vacant until Mary Del Brady and Richard Pearson embarked on a long journey to restore the property with an unwavering commitment to preserving as much of the historical detail and integrity of the Mansions as possible. In her new chapter as a luxury boutique hotel, the Mansions on Fifth is now available for all of us to experience the history, grandeur and artistry of this city’s rich industrial past.

God of Fire – adorns the Mansions’ dining room fireplace

In 2015, Local Goodness joined forces with the Mansions to create a gift line of unique items created by local artisans. The Mansions Collection is the result of this effort and on November 29, 2015, the Mansions will unveil the inaugural artists and their exquisite items at a special shopping event. All items in the collection are available on the Local Goodness Marketplace. Proceeds support local artisans and historic preservation.